WHAT ARE IN THE DIFFERENCES AMONG CHASSIS, ENGINES, & TIRES?

As I've stuck with the Lola/Cosworth/Firestone package since the beginning, I don't have any personal experience with package differences. From what I've read, there are subtle differences, apparently reflecting the actual 1995 CART season (on which the original game is based). In any case, the following is largely second-hand information from a Papyrus tech, along with some observations by Thibaut de Racovitza (many thanks to Michael Lowery for pointing this site out to me). The verity of this information remains uncertain ...

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CHASSIS
The Lola is the best overall chassis, especially on ovals; it reportedly has a bit of oversteer which allows for faster cornering. The Reynard may be superior to the Lola on road courses, and is decent on ovals. The Penske may be the optimal road-course chassis, though poor on ovals; it's reportedly the most stable of the three. I've also read that the Reynard may actually be slightly faster on the road courses than the Penske, but that it's harder to control; alternately, I've read that the Reynard is the easiest of the three to drive, with a small degree of understeer.
 
ENGINES
The Cosworth is the best overall engine, but purportedly more susceptible to breakdowns (though after several years of experience with it, I don't believe that's true; I've seldom had problems). The Mercedes is apparently very reliable, with the best power at the low end, but weaker at the high end. The Honda is decent at the low end, but has excellent top power for the ovals.
 
TIRES
Your best bet here is to glance over the TIRES and TIRES2 lines of the particular track's TXT file; see Corey Rueckheim's TRACK.TXT info file for what each of those values means. It appears that Firestones are generally the better tire, in particular on ovals; Goodyears reportedly outperform Firestones on the road and street courses, though those TRACK.TXT files don't appear to bear that assessment out.
 
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One of my main questions would be: if these differences do indeed exist, how does the sim handle the "new" chassis or engines (Swift, Eagle, Toyota) that can be added?

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